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Worrying about how you'll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, US
researchers said on Saturday.
Math anxiety-feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math-can weaken the brain's limited amount of
working capacity, a resource needed to calculate difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcrafi, a psychologist
at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who studies the problem.
"It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person's working memory," said Ashcraft, who spoke at the
annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Ashcraft said while easy math tasks such as addition require only a small part of a person's working
memory, harder calculations require much more.
Worrying about math takes up a large part of a person's working memory stores as well, spelling disaster
for the anxious student who is taking a high-stakes test ( 高风险测验).
Stress about how one does on tests like college entrance exams can make even good math students choke.
"All of a sudden they start looking for the short cuts," said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Although test preparation classes can help students get over this anxiety, they are limited to students whose
families can afford them.
Finally, she said, "It may not be wise to rely completely on scores to predict who will succeed."
While the causes of math anxiety are unknown, Ashcraft said,"People who manage to get over math
anxiety have completely normal math ability."
1. Sian Beilock points out that stress________.
A. can't be avoided before college entrance exams
B. contributes to scores in college entrance exams
C. has no effects on good math students
D. has side effects on students in college entrance exams
2. What does the underlined word "spelling" probably mean?
A. causing
B. reducing
C. taking away
D. preparing for
3. What can we learn from the text?
A. The causes of math anxiety have already been found.
B. All of the students attend test preparation classes.
C. Math anxiety weakens working memory needed to do math.
D. Few measures can be taken to get rid of math anxiety.
4. What does the passage suggest middle school students do before exams?
A. Get relieved.
B. Review lessons.
C. Go to the doctor's.
D. Rely on scores.
